Do not INCREASE segregation! Do not DECREASE education!
I have a bone to pick with the union that represents prison guards in Michigan. The corrections officers have expressed concern regarding the dangerous increase in assaultive behavior, prisoner-on-prisoner, and prisoners-on-guards. In a two-page letter, recently sent to MODC Director Heidi Washington by union president Byron Osborn, he said: The prison pendulum has been stuck on the rehabilitation and education side of the system for too long and we, the officers, need it to start swinging back toward the safety and security side of the system.” His solution to the problem: expanded segregation units and increased use of high security housing. The letter frames prolonged isolation and higher security placement as necessary for safety. I respond with two questions. One, in a department of CORRECTIONS, how can there ever be too much emphasis on rehabilitation and education? And, two, how does increased torture reduce any problem in p...